​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International commends Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic visit to Argentina. Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to visit the country, where he stopped at the Israeli embassy, the site of the 1994 Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building bombing and met with Jewish leaders and other Latin America government officials, including Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
 
The Israeli and Argentine leaders have demonstrated a solid partnership, with economic and technological agreements signed by both, as well as making joint forceful public statements against terrorism.
 
The Argentine government delivered to Israel more than 100,000 documents and digital images that show the role Argentina played in the Holocaust. This was a remarkable addition to the public record of the atrocities of the Holocaust as well as a demonstration that Argentina wants to confront the dark years of its past at the time of the Nazi and post-Nazi era.
 
In 1992 and 1994, Argentina suffered two horrific terrorist attacks. To this day, no one has been brought to justice for either. Netanyahu’s visit has marked a difference in the long process of impunity about these unresolved bombings. During a speech on terrorism, Netanyahu said, “We are determined to fight Iran’s terrorism, and we are determined to prevent it from establishing itself near our border. It was Iran who in the 1990s was behind the major terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires. Iran’s terrorist octopus, from the Middle East, along with its proxy Hezbollah, continues to send arms to all parts of the world, and also to Latin America.”
 
For the Argentine-Jewish community, Netanyahu’s visit is deeply significant. The tribute at the AMIA building and the site where the Israeli Embassy was destroyed were very important messages to Jewish communities around the world about their connections to Israel.
 
During his visit, Netanyahu delivered a speech in front of 500 Jewish leaders and thanked Macri for continuing the AMIA investigation and for fighting against all forms of terrorism and discrimination. B'nai B'rith Argentina President David Petliuk and B’nai B’rith International Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn attended the event. Petliuk and Kohn met with Israeli Ambassador to Argentina Ilan Sztulman, Argentine Secretary of Human Rights Claudio Avruj and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Latin America Director Modi Ephraim.
 
This visit is demonstrating Israel’s commitment to the Jewish community in Latin America. We are hopeful that the countries of Latin America will reverse its United Nations voting record, and gain a better understanding of the conflict in the Middle East.  

B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International strongly opposes the Palestinian Authority’s campaign to become a member state of the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). It is expected that the UNWTO will consider the Palestinian bid later this week.
 
The Palestinians must not be allowed to upend the international order, and enjoy treatment not afforded any other group, by being admitted to international organizations as a “state” before they have actually earned that status. Such admittance only encourages the Palestinians to continue rejecting the direct negotiations and meaningful compromise with Israel that would provide for the fundamental needs of both sides.
 
Premature admittance of the Palestinians would devastate the standing of the UNWTO itself. The Palestinians also have a consistent record of derailing U.N. bodies with inflammatory political resolutions against the Jewish state. This is precisely what happened upon the admission of “Palestine” to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2011.
 
Only when the Palestinians finally accept the legitimacy of Israel’s existence as a democratic Jewish state—and agree to genuinely live alongside it in peace—can they enjoy the benefits of responsible membership in the international community.
 

B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International is opening its Disaster Relief Fund as Hurricane Irma gains strength. The hurricane started as a tropical storm in the mid-Atlantic and quickly rose to hurricane status.
 
Hurricane Irma has battered the Caribbean Islands, killing at least 10, and Puerto Rico, where thousands of people are without power. Currently, the storm is off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
 
Thousands of buildings on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda have been damaged or destroyed.
 
The Category Five storm, with winds up to 180 mph, is expected to make landfall in Florida by this weekend. Gov. Rick Scott has already ordered mandatory evacuations for counties that are projected to receive the most damage. The path of the storm is still being determined, but it is now being projected to travel across Florida and up into Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. 


We will monitor and assess the needs of those in Florida and other impacted areas.
 
B’nai B’rith has a tradition of helping communities in distress, which began in 1865 in pre-state Israel when we raised funds to aid victims of a cholera outbreak. Since then, B’nai B’rith has helped countless people across the globe who have faced adversity after natural and man-made disasters.  
 
In anticipation of this catastrophic natural disaster we ask for your help.
 
Donate online to our Hurricane Irma Disaster Relief Fund at our secure website by clicking here.
 
You can also call 800-573-9057 to make a credit card contribution over the phone. Or, you can send a check payable to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund to:
 
​B’nai B’rith International
Disaster Relief Fund
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 300N
Washington, D.C. 20036

B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith calls on Congress to provide permanent legal status for those under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legislation. Today’s order by the administration on DACA underscores the urgent need for a bipartisan legislative solution to the precarious status of America’s “dreamers”—the 800,000 undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States, earned educations here and in most cases are working and contributing to our economy.
 
It is simply wrong that these young people, who came to this country because of a decision made by their parents and have become productive members of American society, should live in fear of their status. To deport them to countries that are unfamiliar to them and to which they have little connection is unthinkable.
 
Congress and the administration must work together to find a long-term answer to this problem. Our leaders should strive for a bipartisan consensus that will result in dreamers receiving the permanent legal status they deserve.
 
B’nai B’rith has long supported legislation that would protect the dreamers, a population that is American in every sense except on paper. Today we renew our call for lawmakers to come together in support of a just and equitable solution.

Also in this issue, President Gary P. Saltzman kicks off B’nai B’rith’s 175th year, discussing the core values and evolution of the oldest Jewish humanitarian and human rights group.
 
B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin writes about the delegation he co-led to Georgia and Azerbaijan. During their trip B’nai B’rith leaders, members and supporters met with the prime ministers of both countries and other key governmental officials. Mariaschin also discusses the Jewish histories in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
 
In other articles, the magazine looks at the Golan Heights 50 years after the Six-Day War, the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere and the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, where Britain endorsed a Jewish state in Palestine.
 
Since Israel won control of the Golan in 1967, the region has been transformed. Rejuvenated residential communities thrive despite ongoing challenges and the Golan Heights has been re-branded into a destination for tourists who take in its wineries and historical sites.
 
Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue is the oldest continuously functioning Jewish house of worship in the Western Hemisphere. Every year, thousands of visitors are welcomed by a congregation now rapidly diminishing in numbers. Its leaders are hopeful that the synagogue’s future can be assured.
 
The euphoria after the publication of a brief letter in 1917, known as the Balfour Declaration, has been preceded by years of strategic planning, alliances and meetings, with participation by members of B’nai B’rith from within Britain’s Jewish communities.
 
Read these stories and more that you just can’t find anyplace else.
 
Click here to read the magazine.

And click here to access the digital version of the publication.

B’nai B’rith International commends United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his first visit to Israel, which concluded yesterday. During his visit, the secretary-general recognized that calls for destroying Israel constitute “modern anti-Semitism,” and that every United Nations member state, including Israel, deserves equal treatment.
 
During his visit, Guterres laid a wreath at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, met with Israelis whose family members are being held hostage in Gaza and toured an underground tunnel built by Hamas terrorists controlling the coastal Palestinian enclave.
 
At the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel yesterday, Guterres said: “Let me stress that when I talk about anti-Semitism, I include calls for the destruction of Israel. Israel is a member state of the United Nations. It bears all the responsibilities and enjoys all the rights of every other member state and, therefore, it must be treated as such. As secretary-general of the United Nations, I am determined to do everything I can to stand against anti-Semitism and to all other forms of bigotry and discrimination.”
 
Guterres also asserted that terrorism and incitement must end, and spoke in personal terms of the historic persecution of Jews and of Israel’s achievements, including peace treaties with two neighboring Arab countries. Calling both Israelis and Palestinians at home in the Holy Land, he said, “Anyone visiting Israel is left with no doubt that it has fulfilled the rights and national aspirations of Jews throughout generations. Your country has become renowned worldwide for its great cultural, scientific, technological and scholarly achievements ... Most importantly, you have created, for the first time in 2,000 years, a home for your people.”
 
B’nai B’rith shares the secretary-general’s hope for coexistence and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Sadly, Palestinians exploited Guterres’ visit to orchestrate an apparently unplanned encounter between him and the relatives of imprisoned terrorists, and to then portray them as victims enjoying the U.N. chief’s support. 
 
On another key front, the U.N. Security Council yesterday renewed, but also expanded the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has not yet effectively taken action as Hezbollah, the fanatically anti-Israel faction on Israel’s northern border, has further augmented its extraordinarily lethal arsenal threatening the Jewish state.
 
B’nai B’rith hopes that the U.N. secretary-general will further play a serious leadership role in confronting and addressing the true impediment to peace in the region: violent fanaticism that rejects the presence of a democratic Jewish state within any boundaries.
 
Senior B’nai B’rith leaders, including President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, met with Guterres in January at the United Nations headquarters in New York. They discussed a variety of priority concerns, particularly a long history of hostile and inequitable treatment for Israel at the world body, Middle East peacemaking, Iranian involvement in illicit nuclear activity and terrorism and the scourge of global anti-Semitism.  

​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International is pleased that the U.S. State Department is moving forward to appoint a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. While anti-Semitism has always been a central concern in our country and around the world, the number of global anti-Semitic incidents and the intensity of anti-Israel hatred in public discourse have reached alarming levels.
 
B’nai B’rith has long spoken out about the vital nature of this position. The impact of the United States government placing its power and prestige behind the issue of anti-Semitism and combating it, cannot be overstated.
​
In March, B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and Mark B. Levin, National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ) executive vice chairman and CEO, wrote an op-ed for Fox News, addressing the necessity for this special envoy and how the United States needs to lead by example. Click here to read the op-ed.
 
In June, we, along with five other Jewish organizations, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him not to eliminate the position.
 
Former U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira Forman joined our podcast in May. He discussed the bipartisan origins of the envoy post and how various countries experience different kinds of anti-Semitism. He also noted that by prioritizing the position, the United States sets an important example to other governments about taking the lead in combating anti-Semitism. Click here to listen to the podcast.

B’nai B’rith Opens Disaster Relief Fund
 
B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International is opening its Disaster Relief Fund to provide aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. On Aug. 25 the Category 4 storm made landfall in Texas, and, according to CNN, has dumped 11 trillion gallons of water on the state since.
 
The hurricane, now downgraded to a tropical storm, has caused catastrophic flooding and more than 300,000 people are without power. The storm has killed at least five people and destroyed thousands of homes, schools and businesses.
 
We will continue to monitor and assess the needs of those in Texas.
 
B’nai B’rith has a tradition of helping communities in distress, which began in 1865 in pre-state Israel when we raised funds to aid victims of a cholera outbreak. Since then, B’nai B’rith has helped countless people across the globe who have faced adversity after natural and man-made disasters. In July, we presented a donation to the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas to help feed residents still struggling from torrential rains that caused massive flooding in the spring.
 
To help, donate online to our Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund at our secure website by clicking here.
 
You can also call 800-573-9057 to make a credit card contribution over the phone. Or, you can send a check payable to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund to:
 
​B’nai B’rith International
Disaster Relief Fund
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 300N
Washington, D.C. 20036

​B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) toured one of B’nai B’rith International’s housing facilities for low-income senior citizens to meet with residents and discuss the critical importance of housing for adults with limited means. B’nai B’rith Apartments in Allentown, Pa., is a residential facility sponsored by B’nai B’rith in partnership with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
 
Dent also serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing & Urban Development.
 
“I truly appreciate the great work that B'nai B'rith has been doing here in Allentown for decades. B'nai B'rith provides affordable housing options to many seniors. They very much like it here, so we’re blessed to have this organization in our community,” Dent said. “And we want to continue to support organizations like B'nai B'rith and others who are providing these affordable housing options in the 202 for so many seniors and elders across the country.”
 
Dent’s tour of the building included a resident’s apartment, a common room, the computer room, the arts and crafts room and the patio area.
 
The congressman held a Q-and-A session with 90 residents and answered questions regarding Section 202 rental subsidies, social security (privatization and increasing benefits), Medicare and Medicaid. He also spoke of how he is trying to work across party lines to fix the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
 
This type of housing is in constant demand, and researchers say for every low-income senior housing apartment nationwide there are 10-12 seniors waiting for a spot.
 
In attendance from the B’nai B’rith Housing community were B’nai B’rith International Associate Director of the Center for Senior Services Janel Doughten; B’nai B’rith Assistant Director for Aging Policy Evan Carmen; B’nai B’rith Senior Program Associate Breana Clark; as well as B’nai B’rith Apartments staff including Board President Barbra Butz; Project Administrator Bob Sipos; Property Management Assistant Kathy Andreas Heath; Service Coordinator Jennifer Leffler; Rental Assistant Jessica Yaich and Recertification Specialist Beth Gonzalez.
 
“We are pleased that Congressman Dent visited with our residents. He addressed their concerns and allowed their voices to be heard,” Carmen said. “For many seniors, Section 202 housing is their only option, and if this program looses any part of its budget many of our residents will be forced into homelessness.”
 
The B'nai B'rith Senior Housing Network in the United States consists of 38 buildings in 27 communities, includes more than 4,000 apartment units and serves more than 8,000 people.
 
“This is my home now. This is the place where I have friends, I have many things to do, many opportunities, wonderful exposure, you can be as active and as involved as you choose to be. The staff that works here that runs this facility is phenomenal, there is nothing that they won't do to help you down to changing my address when I first moved in. Just availability for everything. I cannot say enough good things about B'nai B'rith, and this is a family to me. And, I'm grateful to be here, this is my home, I love it,” said Kay Graf, a resident who has been living at B’nai B’rith Apartments for one year.